News

Associate Professor Kate Hoy, Head of the Cognitive Therapeutics Research Program and Deputy Director of Therapeutic Brain Stimulation at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre, is one of just 23 Victorian Finalists in this year’s Telstra Business Women’s Awards.

The Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) at the Alfred Hospital is currently seeking volunteers for a clinical trial of a non-medication investigational treatment for fibromyalgia.

Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS) is a painless, safe, and non-invasive means of stimulating nerve cells in the brain. We are conducting this study to see whether we can reduce the symptoms of fibromyalgia.

The 2017 Nostra Homes de Castella Run 2 Mend Minds, held on the 27th of August, was once again a huge success! Despite the stormy weather forecast and changeable weather conditions, 1,323 people registered for the event and so far donations have reached over $56,500!

Associate Professor Kate Hoy, Head of the Cognitive Therapeutics Research Program and Deputy Director of Therapeutic Brain Stimulation at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, has been awarded a NHMRC Boosting Dementia Research Leadership Fellowship.

Following the successful bid presentation at the 7th World Congress on Women’s Mental Health in Dublin, Melbourne has been announced as the host of the 9th World Congress on Women’s Mental Health for 2021. Professor Jayashri Kulkarni was instrumental in the success of this bid, along with colleagues from research organisations all over Melbourne. The City of Melbourne will host the international conference, which will bring leading researchers to Melbourne with the spotlight on women’s mental health research and practice.

The Women’s Mental Health Team recently attended the 7th World Congress on Women’s Mental Health in Dublin, Ireland. The Congress was held in conjunction with International Women’s Day and was centred on the reproductive rights of women globally. Professor Jayashri Kulkarni was honoured to take up the prestigious Presidency of the International Association for Women’s Mental Health, a position she will hold for two years.

Dr Christopher Worsnop, Old Xavierians Athletic Club (OXAC) President, has presented a generous cheque of $60,000 at MAPrc affirming the continuing relationship between MAPrc and OXAC and their shared goals in finding new treatments to serious mental illnesses - helping to Mend Minds.

Mental health advocates have increasingly called for female-only areas in mental health settings. These campaigns are about improving the safety and experience of women in crisis, including reducing incidents of sexual assault. This week’s edition of Women on the Line features an interview with Professor Jayashri Kulkarni.

Magnetic brain stimulation, once considered a novel treatment for depression, has become a mainstream therapy option, particularly for those resistant to depression medication, thanks to the work of Professor Paul Fitzgerald, who has been trialing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for more than a decade.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Kate Hoy, who has received a Mason Foundation National Medical Program Grant for the project ‘A randomized controlled trial of Theta Burst Stimulation for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease,’ a novel treatment approach.

The recipient for the Alfred Prize for Best Alfred Medical Student in Psychiatry in 2015 was Victor Zhang, who was awarded the prize by Professor Kulkarni at a ceremony at the Synchrotron on Wednesday 9th March 2016.

Over 80 staff and alumni took the opportunity to celebrate women in health and network with colleagues at this year’s International Women’s Day luncheon hosted by Professor Christina Mitchell, Academic Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

Women experience depression twice as much as men, and four times as much anxiety—yet their mental health has not had high priority. Biological, social and psychological factors mean that men and women experience mental illness differently, so why shouldn’t gender be considered when developing treatments?

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, internationally renowned expert and high profile advocate of women’s mental health, presented a compelling lecture on the major issues which impact women and their mental wellbeing, and strategies for improving women’s mental health.

MAPrc is thrilled to announce that Nostra Homes have raised over $10,000 for our centre during their Mend Minds Month in September.

During Mend Minds Month, Nostra Homes pledged to donate $500 to MAPrc for every house that they sold. This is an amazing result for the team at MAPrc and it will greatly help us to better develop treatments for mental illness.

MAPrc would like to extend a huge thank you to Nostra Homes for supporting our research and for helping us in our mission to find new treatment approaches for mental illnesses that really work.

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni joined Dr Sally Cockburn on her radio segment at 3AW over the weekend, talking about why 'Borderline Personality Disorder' needs to be renamed to 'Complex Trauma Disorder,' and also talking about other mental health issues.

Dr Caroline Gurvich and Professor Susan Rossell have co edited an e-book entitled "Cognition across the psychiatric disorder spectrum: From mental health to clinical diagnosis", which explores the relationship between cognition, schizotypy and the schizophrenia spectrum.

Presenting the Monash Univeristy Central Clinical School's public lecture this year, Professor Jayashri Kulakrni will describe the major issues which impact on women and their mental wellbeing, and strategies for improving women's mental health.

Details

A public forum at Monash University will feature a leading international researcher, addressing the issue of domestic violence and the provision of interpreting services for victims of domestic violence

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni speaks to The New Daily about the increasing problem of mental ill health in women that is often not detected or handled properly.

According to Professor Kulkarni, there is an increasing problem of “inward violence” suffered by women, especially young women, disregarded by the mental health system, with side effects of insomnia and far worse.

MAPrc are organising a one-day forum, sponsored by Monash Partners, where non mental-health researchers will present their latest and greatest research to a selected audience of mental health researchers. This will take place on Wednesday 19th August 2015, New Horizons Building, Monash University, Clayton.

Dr Bernadette Fitzgibbon presented the public lecture at the Australian Academy of Science on "Pain in the Brain: the overlap between physical, social and empathy for pain" Click here to watch the lecture online.

If feelings such as depressed mood or lack of energy are keeping you from the things that matter to you, you may be eligible for this research study. It’s evaluating an investigational drug designed to work with antidepressants to see if it can help address unresolved symptoms of depression.

Dr Neil Bailey, based at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre, researches how mindfulness practice changes our brain to treat and prevent mental illnesses. His Thinkable.org application explains his research. Please watch the video, and if you think his research should be funded then vote for it on the Thinkable website, so mindfulness can be more effectively used to treat and prevent mental illness: http://www.thinkable.org/submission/2133

Watch Professor Kulkarni, who won the 2014 Melbourne Award for Contribution to Community by an Individual, talk about working in the field of mental health in the City of Melbourne's video (starts at 2.22 minutes). You can also see the highlights of the awards night here.

MAPrc researchers Dr Tamsyn Van Rheenen and Professor Susan Rossell recently published a study examining how facial emotions are processed by people with bipolar disorder. According to the study, those with bipolar disorder have difficulty in recognizing and discriminating facial emotions. Perception of emotion from facial information is vital for effective social and relational functioning and misinterpretation of emotional expressions can reduce appropriate social communication.

Dr Erica Neill considers the increasing use of anti-psychotic medication amongst children in an article for The Conversation. While appropriate in a small number of cases, Dr Neill suggests that the possible irreversible side effects could adversely affect children.

Dr Jerome Maller recently published an article which looks at volumetric, cortical thickness and white matter integrity alterations in bipolar disorder type I and II. Though previous studies have used brain imagining to compare those with bipolar disorder to controls, few studies have investigated differences between bipolar disorder type I and II and matched controls.

Congratulations to Professor Kulkarni who won the 2014 Melbourne Award for Contribution to Community by an Individual! The Melbourne Awards celebrate the inspirational Melburnians who dedicate their time and energy for the benefit of the city and are Melbourne's highest accolade.

Dr Tamsyn Van Rheenen has been awarded one of the prestigious and highly competitive 2014 Awards for an Excellent PhD Thesis in Psychology from the Australian Psychological Society for her thesis entitled Thinking, Perceiving and Regulating Feeling: An Investigation of Neurocognition, Social Cognition and Emotion Regulation in Bipolar Disorder

Congratulations to Professor Kulkarni who is a finalist in the 2014 Melbourne Awards in the Contribution to community category. The Melbourne Awards celebrate the inspirational Melburnians who dedicate their time and energy for the benefit of the city and are Melbourne's highest accolade. The winners will be announced on November 15, 2014.

Congratulations to Dr Bernadette Fitzgibbon who has been awarded the 2014 Victorian Young Tall Poppy Award. The awards are run by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS) to celebrate scientists who combine world-class research with a passionate commitment to communicating science.

On September 23, 2014 His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) and Her Excellency Lady Cosgrove visited MAPrc and met with staff and students. Professor Kulkarni presented an overview of our work at MAPrc and then senior researchers presented highlights from their specific fields. Their Excellencies also visited our TMS Lab, our EVestG Lab and our NRAMP unit to discuss our research in these fields in greater detail.

The Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) and the Greater Eastern Primary Health (GEPH) are jointly organising a special conference focused on the recognition, management and prevention of domestic violence.

Join the de Castella Run volunteer team on August 31, 2014! To make the event run smoothly, we need a large team of volunteers to help with registrations, BIB distribution, course marshalling and many other important duties.

Dr Rebecca Segrave was one of just three Victorian scientists and 15 Australian scientists to be selected to attend the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Physiology or Medicine, held in Germany between June 29 and July 4, 2014. This year's Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting was dedicated to medicine and brought together 37 Nobel Laureates and 600 scientists from over 80 countries.

On Thursday June 26, the Chairman of beyondblue, the Hon. Jeff Kennett AC, joined us at MAPrc to formally launch the FAD Study, Facebook use in Affective Disorders. The FAD Study will compare changes in social media use by an individual before and during a bipolar relapse. MAPrc are collaborating with the School of Intelligent Systems at RMIT for this study. For more information about the study, please see The FAD Study.

MAPrc's Tamsyn Van Rheenen has been awarded a prestigious travel award to present her research at the International Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, to be held in Brisbane in July 2014. The conference focuses on the study of the human cognition and will attract researchers both nationally and internationally. Tamsyn was one of only 13 Australians to receive the award, which she will use to present her PhD research on multimodal emotion processing in bipolar disorder.

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni calls on mental health and health professionals to make women’s mental health a priority in the article ‘Women’s mental health: Still not a priority, still not good enough’ published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

MAPrc are delighted to announce that His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) has kindly accepted to be our Patron.
His Excellency is pleased to accept the role and sees the work of the Centre as complementary to his responsibilities as Governor- General and to themes of his personal interests.

Dr Rebecca Segrave is one of just three Victorian scientists and 15 Australian scientists to be selected to attend the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Physiology or Medicine, held in Germany between June 29 and July 4, 2014. The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, which this year is dedicated to medicine, will bring together 37 Nobel Laureates and 600 scientists from over 80 countries.

On Thursday June 26, the Chairman of beyondblue, the Hon. Jeff Kennett AC, will be joining us at MAPrc to formally launch the FAD Study, Facebook use in Affective Disorders. The FAD Study will examine changes in social media use by an individual before and during a bipolar relapse. The study aims to identify whether it is possible to predict an episode of mania by analysing changes in Facebook use. This is a joint project between MAPrc and the School of Intelligent Systems at RMIT.

MAPrc's Psychoneurotechnology team, led by Professor Paul Fitzgerald, featured on Nine News Melbourne this evening.
More information on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is available here or call us on (03) 9076 6595.

Eric Tan, Research Assistant in the Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Stream, has recently had his paper 'Building a neurocognitive profile of thought disorder in schizophrenia using a standardized test battery' featured in Psychology Progress as a key research article judged to be of major importance to the field of schizophrenia research.

Dr Erica Neill recently attended the Schizophrenia International Research Society conference in Florence to present her data on drug models of psychosis. Dr Neill, Eric Tan and Professor Susan Rossell (all from the MAPrc Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Team), each had their poster presentations short listed in the top 40 (out of 800) by judges from the prestigious 'Schizophrenia Bulletin' journal.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary for MAPrc’s executive team. Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, Professor Paul Fitzgerald and Antony de Castella have been working together since 1994 and are a cohesive, dynamic team that continue to lead the centre and head up the innovative clinical research work that has earned MAPrc many important accolades.

Here are their reflections on their remarkable 20 year-long journey together:

Dr Shainal Nathoo recently attended an investigator meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, for a new major depression study with Otsuka Pharmaceutical. The study will be looking at evaluating the effectiveness of an adjunct treatment option (i.e. new medication is added to the person's existing treatment). The chief investigator is Prof Jayashri Kulkarni and the MAPrc research team includes by Anthony de Castella, Dr Shainal Nathoo, and Mirjana Stojkovic.

Dr Bernadette Fitzgibbon was recently invited as a junior fellow to participate in the '2014 New Horizons in Human Brain Imaging' meeting in Hawaii. This event took place in March and focused around the future of neuroimaging research and the developmental brain. At this event, Bernadette presented recent research at MAPrc led by A/Prof Peter Enticott on the use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as a biomedical tool for the relief of symptoms associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

As a member of the Australian Academy of Science's Early/Mid-Career Researcher Forum, Dr Kate Hoy has been selected to attend the Science meets Parliament (SmP) on March 17 and 18, 2014. SmP brings together about 200 scientists and decision makers in Canberra.

The Monthly has just published the full video of the 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' talk at the Festival of Ideas, University of Melbourne. Professor Jayashri Kulkarni discussed women's mental health as part of a panel with Professor Kim Cornish, Dr Cordelia Fine and Ben McKenzie, hosted by Dr Norman Swan.

As part of the Happiness & Its Causes Conference, Professor Jayashri Kulkarni was on the expert panel talking to His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Science of Mind forum. Watch the full forum here (part one of three), as His Holiness and Professor Kulkarni discuss the growing problem of violence against women.

Professor Susan Rossell was awarded Swinburne University's Vice Chancellors Award for Research Excellence in 2013, at an award ceremony held on 11th Dec 2013. Susan's award was to acknowledge her outstanding contribution to the understanding of the neurobiology of auditory hallucinations. For a list of all of this year's winners, please click here.

The Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society held its annual conference at Monash University Caulfield between November 28 and December 1. As part of the conference, Dr Caroline Gurvich and Dr Kate Hoy participated in the Early Career Researcher Panel Discussion. This informal Q&A session aimed to encourage discussion amongst panel and audience members about getting ahead in research. For more information, click here.

MAPrc ran a certification course in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) on November 26 and 27. This two-day course included practical sessions from leading experts in clinical and research use of TMS as well as didactic learning. To register interest in our 2014 TMS certification courses email info@absmeet.org.

Congratulations to Professor Paul Fitzgerald and Dr Kate Hoy who are lead Chief Investigators for 2014 Monash University Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Strategic Grant Awards. Professor Fitzgerald received a grant for the project 'Development of an enhanced magnetic field concentrator design for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation' and Dr Hoy for the project 'Investigating optimal methods of cognitive enhancement: A comparison of the behavioural and biological effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation'.

On 1 October 2013 the Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce, who has been a patron of MAPrc for a number of years, launched our new facilities on St Kilda Road. Professor Jayashri Kulkarni (MAPrc Director), Professor David Coppolov (Monash Pro Vice-Chancellor), Mr Andrew Way (Alfred Health CEO) and the Governor-General spoke about the need for mental health research to be further developed and the importance of having a clinical research centre within a community setting.

On October 1, MAPrc was officially launched by Her Excellency the Governor-General Quentin Bryce at its new location on St Kilda Road. MAPrc has been evolving and growing since 1994 and Her Excellency has been the Centre's Patron since 2009. Today MAPrc has 170 staff and students and runs 102 clinical trials in the areas of women's mental health, psychiatric neurotechnology, psychopharmacology, mental health services research and cognitive neuropsychology.

The Classical Guitar Society of Victoria will be performing 'Classical Guitar through the Ages' on November 17, 2013 at the Uniting Church Centre in Parkville. The program spans from Baroque to contemporary works, with music by Robert de Visse, J.S. Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Toru Takemitsu and Elena Kats-Chernin. A taster of CGSV's performances is available here.

Congratulations to Dr Kate Hoy on being awarded a Young Tall Poppy Science Award!

The Tall Poppy Awards celebrate scientific excellence and achievement and aim to promote intellectual achievements in Australia. Recipients must have produced world class research and be passionate science communicators.

The GLOBAL walk/run provides an opportunity for all Monash University students and staff to enjoy an outdoor walk or run event in a large team atmosphere. A lunch is provided at the conclusion of the event at each location. Delivered in conjunction with Wellbeing at Monash and Monash Sport, in October we partner with the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, when the GLOBAL walk/run coincides with Mental Health Week.

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni will join a panel of speakers for the talk Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus at the Festival of Ideas 2013 on Saturday, October 5 2013. The speakers will discuss whether subtle differences in male and female brain anatomy relate to cognitive performance and explore the area of neurosexism.

Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC CVO, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia has generously been the patron for MAPrc since 2010. Her Excellency will be visiting MAPrc in October to launch our new facilities.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 33rd annual de Castella Run for Mental Health Research on Sunday, 25th August 2013! Thank you to participants, Rob de Castella, our sponsors and all the volunteers for making the event a great success.

The work of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) clinic was featured in The Age, Wave of the magnetic wand lifting spirits. The TMS clinic has treated approximately 100 people with treatment-resistant depression with promising results. Proceeds from the 2013 de Castella run on August 25 will go towards supporting this program.

The MAPrc Psychiatric Neurotechnology team recently hosted the inaugural Australasian Brain Stimulation Meeting 2013. Held on 25-26 July at the Alfred Medical Research Precinct, the conference was a resounding success, attracting over 130 brain stimulation researchers from around Australia and abroad. The diversity of research showcased was inspiring.

On July 24, 2013 Professor Sir Robin Murray presented 'The good, the bad and the ugly of Schizophrenia care' at The Alfred, a talk outlining some of the key findings of the Schizophrenia Commission in the United Kingdom. Rethink Mental Illness established the independent Commission in 2011 and it was chaired by Professor Sir Murray.

MAPrc researchers are currently using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate the brain basis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is expected that this ground-breaking research will lead to new developments for diagnosis and treatment.

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni was on the expert panel talking to His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Science of Mind forum, part of the Happiness and It's Causes Conference, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, 19-20 June 2013.

The 33rd annual de Castella Run for Mental Health Research is fast approaching for 2013. It's set to be another exciting year with loads in store including Rob de Castella, the legend himself, attending the run on Sunday August 25th! Visit www.decastellarun.com.au to register for the Step into Life 5km, Runners World 10km or Mizuno 15km and enjoy Melbourne's best fun run course. Don't delay, start training today!

MAPrc Hosts the 2013 Australasian Schizophrenia Conference

On May 7th 2013, an episode of the popular SBS program “Who Do You Think You Are?” featured actress Susie Porter, who traced her family back several generations and discovered that her grandmother and great- grandmother had mental illnesses and spent a large part of their lives in Psychiatric Institutions.

“The theory that (PMS) is all in women’s minds as opposed to their endocrinology …” Why is this debate from the 1970s about whether or not PMS is “just an excuse” that women use for their anger resurfacing now?

On the 31st October 2012 the Minister for Health, Mary Wooldridge, launched the MAPrc TMS Clinic – the first publicly funded program for the provision of TMS in the treatment of depression in Australia.

Congratulations to MAPrc researchers Dr Peter Enticott and Dr Steven Miller, who have each been awarded a 2012 NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the US-based Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation.

To watch the full Channel 7 News report and read the related article, please click here

MAPrc are currently conducting several trials specialising in women’s mental health, and following this news report we received over 100 callers wishing to take part in research. If you would like more information about our studies, please contact Emmy Gavrilidis on 9076 6564 or email e.gavrilidis@alfred.org.au

Dr Kate Hoy was recently selected as one of Monash’s most outstanding early to midcareer researchers to represent the university at the NHMRC 75th Anniversary symposium which was held from the 28November to the 1December in Canberra.

The Victorian Statewide Problem Gambling and Mental Health Partnership was the winner of the Minister for Mental Health’s Award for enabling person and family-centred mental healthcare, 2011 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards.

MAPrc has been highly successful with grants being awarded from a number of different funding agencies....

MAPrc awarded with highly competitive Alfred Health Grants

MAPrc researchers have been awarded one of three highly competitive Alfred Health grants (valued at $485,817 over three years) to investigate the predictors of antidepressant response to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

The National Register of Antipsychotic Medication in Pregnancy (NRAMP) has been placed in the spotlight recently at a Showcase Event, which was held on Friday 29th July at the newly refurbished Monash Law Chambers in Melbourne’s CBD.

Bernie Fitzgibbon, PhD Student recently published an electroencephalography investigation documenting atypical neural activity during pain observation in lower-limb amputees who report 'syanesthetic pain': when the observation of pain in another induces an actual experience of pain in the absence of noxious injury.

Dr Kate Hoy has been awarded the Deans Award for Excellence in Research (Early Career) 2010. Dr Hoy has demonstrated that she has achieved the highest levels of sustained excellence in research, based on research achievements over the last 5 years. Despite having graduated only three years ago Dr Hoy has generated a considerable degree of research output (30 peer-reviewed articles; H index of 8; $734,000 in research funding).

MAPrc researchers have completed ground breaking research into autism and Asperger’s syndrome. This research helps us to better understand why people with these conditions often have difficulties in relating to other people.

MAPrc has punched above its weight in this year’s NHMRC funding round. The centre received two project grants worth more than $550,000 (and is also co-investigator in an additional grant worth $235,000) and two of its young researchers received individual grants.

The 2010 Art for Mental Health Research Exhibition and Auction

The 2010 Art for Mental Health Research Exhibition and Auction was held on Thursday 12 November, 6-9pm, Blue Door Gallery, 231-233 Park Street, South Melbourne.
This event raised nearly $10,000 to support innovative mental health research. The Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) works to discover and fast track new treatment solutions to give hope and a brighter future to the millions of Australians living with mental illness.

The 2010 Art for Mental Health Research Exhibition and Auction was a great success, with more than $7000 raised for mental health research. The organisers would like to thank all the artists who contributed works; all those who came alon on the night; and the event's key sponsors, Blue Door Gallery and Deans Art.

The MAPrc Women's Mental Health Clinic was officially opened on Thursday 28 October, 11.30am, by Victoria's Cabinet Secretary and Member for Prahran, Tony Lupton MP. Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Mary Wooldridge, also spoke at the launch.

A new diagnostic tool for detecting mental illnesses and other neurological conditions, being developed at MAPrc, has taken out first place honours on ABC’s The New Inventors.

The innovative diagnostic device, invented by Monash University engineer Brian Lithgow in research collaboration with MAPrc Director Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, was unanimously voted the year's best invention in the grand final of the popular ABC program.

The 2010 de Castella Run, held on Sunday 29 August, was a huge success. The event attracted more than 700 entrants, making it one of the biggest in the Run's history. One of the participants was Australian of the Year Professor Pat McGorry (pictured with MAPrc Director Professor Jayashri Kulkarni) who went in the 5km run, and was thrilled to be involved in a fun run that raised funds for mental health research.

The 2010 de Castella Runheld on Sunday 29 August, was a huge success. The event attracted more than 700 entrants, making it one of the biggest in the Run's history. One of the participants was Australian of the Year Professor Pat McGorry, who went in the 5km run, and was thrilled to be involved in a fun run that raised funds for mental health research.

The 2010 de Castella Run for Mental Health Research is fast approaching! This great community event is on Sunday 29 August. If you are not running or walking, there are still opportunities to join in the fun: why not volunteer to help out on the day? We need volunteers for a range of roles. No experience needed; you just need to offer us your time and good will. All volunteers will receive certificates of appreciation and a free pizza lunch.

In The Australian (13 July 2010) Professor Paul Fitzgerald makes the case for a multi-pronged approach to tackling mental illness. Professor Fitzgerald articulates a way forward for mental health reform, identifying how investment across a range of areas will result in real and positive change for people experiencing mental illness, and will take the pressure of families and our over-burdened hospitals.

The 2010 de Castella Runis raising funds for mental health research at MAPrc. Registrer now! Even better, spread the word to friends and family, and find us on Facebook, Twitter and Everydayhero.com.au

The 2010 de Castella Runis raising funds for mental health research at MAPrc. This vitally important research makes a positive difference to the lives of people who experience mental illness and their families. You can make a difference by entering the de Castella Run, so why not run for a good cause!

Mental illness has a huge impact on the lives of many people in Australia -- on those afflicted, their carers, families, friends and the community at large. It is impossible to quantify this human toll, but it is possible to get some measure of the huge economic cost of mental illness.

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni and Adjunct Professor Brian Lithgow won the People's Choice Award on The New Inventors (ABC1, 2 June, 2010). Their innovation was not only popular with audiences, with the program's judges unanimously giving 'EVestG' to honours. For more about EVestG click <HERE.>